Calment smoked until she was 117.
Calment left the world in 1997 at the age of 122.
When Mrs. Calment was 90,
lawyer André-Francois Raffray, bought the apartment in which Mrs. Calment had lived.
Year after year after year Mr. Raffray paid the monthly allowance,
and Mrs. Calment went right on living.
After Calment's death, scientists expressed regret that no autopsy
was held to find the reasons for her exceptional longevity.
Their daughter, Yvonne, had only one son, Frédéric Billot,
whom Mrs. Calment raised after Yvonne died of pneumonia at age 36.
The current record
holder is the French woman Jeanne Calment, who died on August 4,
1997, at the age of 122 years and 5 months.
Although Mrs. Calment, being the wife of a well-to-do shop owner,
never had to work, this did not mean that her life was without hardships.
Both alleged lifespans of 197 and 256 years far exceed the
longest confirmed lifespan of 122 years and 164 days of the French woman Jeanne Calment.
Both claimed lifespans of 197 and 256 years, far exceeding the
longest confirmed lifespan of 122 years and 164 days of the French woman Jeanne Calment.
Both claimed lifespans, of 197 and 256 years, far exceed the
longest confirmed life span of 122 years and 164 days of French woman Jeanne Calment.
Both alleged lifespans of 197 and 256 years far exceed the longest
confirmed lifespan of 122 years and 164 days after the older French woman Jeanne Calment.